


The Great Hall Incident of 1977

by snakeowls



Series: R/S 24 Hour Challenge works [6]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Canon Compliant, Dragon Shit, Felicity is so done, Gen, M/M, Marauders' Era, POV Original Character, Pranks and Practical Jokes, rs24hrchallenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 14:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13572969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snakeowls/pseuds/snakeowls
Summary: It’s hard being a Hogwarts student at the same time as the Marauders, as Felicity knows all too well.  An outsider’s unimpressed view of the Marauders, remembering the time when they messed up the Great Hall.





	The Great Hall Incident of 1977

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the R/S 24 Hour Challenge set by Wildflame. The prompt was 'Remember that time when…'. Include a side pairing of your choice or an outsider’s POV.
> 
> I didn't manage to get the side pairing in, but got the others. This is unbetaed, so please forgive any mistakes.

Felicity Fawley stared at Nearly Headless Nick in disbelief. 

“I really am sorry, Miss Fawley,” Nick’s head wobbled slightly as he bowed to Felicity who scowled in return. “Professor Dumbledore has given specific instructions that no one is to be allowed into the Great Hall until it has been, eh, disinfected.”

“Disinfected?” Felicity huffed.

A terrible affair, Miss Fawley. A stink bomb made from dragon,” he paused, grimacing, “ _excrement_ exploded at the Slytherin table. Thankfully the blast only appeared to cover the Slytherin students, everyone else was untouched.” Nick looked amused. “The Bloody Baron is not too happy.”

Felicity silently cursed herself for being impressed at the charmwork that it must have taken to pull off such a feat. “So where are we supposed to eat?”

“Dining facilities have been set up for the students temporarily in their common rooms,” Nick darted away hastily towards another group of latecomers, “Students, please! Go no further…”

Felicity sighed, turned on her heel and set towards Gryffindor Tower. She knew exactly who was responsible for this, it had the Marauders written all over it. And what an idiotic name they insisted they be known as too, even thinking about it made her teeth itch. Potter, Black, Pettigrew and Lupin were in the same year as her brother who, even although he was a Hufflepuff and on the receiving end of many of their pranks, seemed to think that they were a great laugh. But what did seventeen year old boys know about anything?

They were an inconvenience, that’s what they were. Always up to something and causing some sort of mischief that, of course, they believed to be the best thing _ever_ , but really was just a complete pain for anyone left in their path of destruction. 

The Fat Lady’s portrait swung open at the password ‘erumpent’ (she had been sticking to an animal theme recently) and Felicity heard the sound of cheers and laughter and merrymaking growing louder as she made her way to the common room. She opened the door to see Potter standing on the long dinner table with Pettigrew in a headlock, relaying their stupid prank to their assembled group of sycophantic followers.

She had arrived in the middle of one of Potter’s dramatic displays, which were sadly all too frequent. Only last week he had been reciting horrendous poetry in a very misguided attempt to woo Lily Evans, who thankfully had more sense than to fall for his ‘charms’. Now his theatrics were focused on going on about how wonderful it looked to see the Slytherins covered in dragon mess, sure to stink for days.

“Oh, it was beautiful, my friends. And did you see the look on Malfoy’s face?”

“No,” Black smirked from his seat on Lupin’s lap. “Couldn’t really tell what his face looked like under all that shit.”

“And Snivellus!” Potter, feigned a swoon, “Utterly delightful. It’s probably the cleanest that he’s been in months!”

Felicity rolled her eyes at their display. Thankfully her friends were seated at the opposite end of the table and she went to join them. After their hellos, Sarah nodded down to the ruckus and asked, “How many points do you think we’ll lose this time once Dumbledore figures out it was them?”

“We weren’t likely to win the House Cup this year anyway,” Matthew grumbled. “Not with the way that we’ve been playing Quidditch recently.”

Felicity zoned out and focused on her dinner while the inevitable Quidditch chatter continued. Her mind soon wandered and she spent the whole way through pudding thinking up ideas for the terrible detentions that she would put those boys through were she in charge.

After dinner the tables were vanished away and Felicity briefly considered taking refuge in the dorm room to escape from the boys, but thought no. This was her common room too and she’ll be damned if she allowed them to drive her out. She settled down with Sarah and Matthew on the beanbags in the corner, a spot strategically chosen to be as far away as possible from the cackling group on the couches in front of the fireplace. 

In between games of exploding snap, Felicity huffed and puffed about the raucous group so much that Sarah accused her of being just as obsessed with them as her brother was. She snorted, “Ugh, get lost, I’m not obsessed… they just act like they’re the only ones here! They don’t care how much hassle they cause for everyone else!”

Matthew shrugged, “I don’t mind it, sometimes they do something a bit funny. Like when they charmed that raincloud to follow Filch around all day? You have to admit that was pretty funny.”

Felicity tutted, and slapped her next card down on the pile.

“Or when they turned all of the bludgers into glitterballs in Slytherin vs Hufflepuff last month,” said Sarah. 

“And even that doesn’t make Quidditch more interesting,” Felicity said, and Sarah and Matthew laughed.

Felicity hazarded a glance over at the group over by the fireplace. She certainly wasn’t obsessed with them. In fact she would be happier if they would either grow up or disappear. She watched as Potter strutted about in front of the fireplace as he made terrible unfunny jokes at Pettigrew’s expense, unsubtly throwing glances over at Lily who was in the window seat wrapped up in a book and ignoring him completely although she could obviously hear him. It was difficult not to.

Black and Lupin were crushed into the armchair together, Black half sat on the arm rest and half draped over Lupin who appeared to be chuckling away at whatever drivel Potter was saying. She really didn’t understand what Lupin saw in that lot - he always seemed to be ok and fairly normal when she spoke to him, and he hardly ever seemed to get detentions unlike the rest. Maybe it was just the proximity of sharing a dorm with them that wore him down. 

Their game was interrupted by one of the seventh year prefects who came in to the common room with a note in her hand. “Listen up, everyone,” she called out. “Message from Dumbledore.” There were murmurs around the common room before everyone hushed. “The Great Hall will be out of bounds for a week. Students will take meals in their common rooms, and Slytherin House will also take classes in their common room in order to quarantine the unfortunate smell. Could James Potter, Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew please report to the headmaster’s office immediately.”

A few people gasped, and Black audibly groaned. Pettigrew’s face paled, and he turned to look at Potter who just grinned and shrugged. Lupin looked smug as he patted Black on the head, presumably consoling him for being caught for yet another dumb prank. Potter stood up and bowed making an overly dramatic exit, as always. Black moved from Lupin’s lap and grabbed the still stunned-looking Pettigrew’s arm and dragged him out of the common room to the whoops and cheers of their followers.

“At least we get a bit of a lie in now that we don’t have to go as far to get to breakfast in the morning?” Matthew offered, always looking to find the good in anything.

Felicity found that she was was loathe to agree and tried not to roll her eyes which was her usual reaction to Matthew’s optimism, so instead she just grunted. Not very ladylike, but it would do.

**Author's Note:**

> Felicity is very much inspired by The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue. It’s a great read!


End file.
